


Watch me run

by Luorescence



Series: Cuckoo Clock [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Community: who_contest, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Light Angst, Post-Episode: s09e12 Hell Bent, Twelfth Doctor Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 21:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5981716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luorescence/pseuds/Luorescence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor would run to her, Clara would run from him. The universe needed them to be separeted, so run she would. Run like he did, with a companion at her side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Courage of stars

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt “fine” on who_contest @ LJ. I've watch the last episodes of series 9 recently and let's say I'm extremely pleased and inspired. The prompt was just perfect for what I had in mind.
> 
> Obviously, **spoilers for Hell Bent**

Clara was still watching the screen, now black, as the American Diner whizzed into the Vortex. It was theirs, Ashildr and her's, but somehow, it felt wrong to think of it as a TARDIS when all her thoughts were still for the Doctor and the TARDIS they had shared. The one that had became her home, the one she had learnt to pilot and operate.  
  
She closed her eyes, trying to push away the utter sensation of wrongness of having to leave  _her_  Doctor behind. The irony wasn’t lost of her, how their situation had been reversed. She wondered if it was how it felt the times they had met, when he wasn’t grey yet and she couldn’t remember their meetings because the shards of her weren’t  _quite_  her. Or maybe it was more akin as to what, even younger, the Doctor with the sand shoes had felt when he had forcefully taken Donna’s memories away.  
  
She closed her eyes and sighed, ignoring the heavy pressure of Ashildr’s stare on her. She couldn’t bring herself to call her Me yet. The other was indulgent enough to let it go. Clara though, doubted she could let go. Her fingers were itching to put the TARDIS’ coordinates into the console and go back.  
  
No. She couldn’t afford to think like that. That was the problem with them: they couldn’t let go of each other. Really, the universe would be better with the two of them separate.  
  
“It’s fine,” she told Ashildr even though the other hadn’t said anything.  
  
One time would come when she would believe it.  _Rule number 1: the Doctor lies_. She was an excellent liar, had been a wonderful Doctor when using his identity. This was no different.  
  
“Kephlinox,” Clara said to Ashildr, her current companion if she thought about it. Didn’t it had a nice ring to it? The other looked at her curiously and she forced herself to grin. “That’s the coordinates I entered. I’ve got an old friend staying there.” The immortal’s gaze immediately turned suspicious but Clara rose an eyebrow at her, not unlike the Doctor often did, she noticed, and continued before Ashildr spoke, “Of course not  _him_.”  
  
“Who then?”  
  
“You might’ve met him. Or maybe not. It doesn’t matter. You’ll certainly meet him when we get there.”  
  
Which was when she felt the American Diner landing: a tingling sensation in the back of her mind, before the time rotor had even stopped. She wondered if the Doctor felt it with the TARDIS too.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
She entered the proper diner the moment the exterior door was opening. She blinked the image of the Doctor and his guitar away to greet the “costumer” with a smile. He blinked at her, as if not quite believing what he was seeing.  
  
“I’m not the Doctor,” she greeted him not without a cheeky smile. “I have been on a few occasions though. My name is Clara Oswald.” She extended her hand.  
  
“Captain Jack Harkness.” His hand was warm around hers. “Did you come to sweep me off-planet in your not-TARDIS, Clara Oswald the not-Doctor?”  
  
“Do you want me to?”  
  
She grinned when he didn’t let go of her hand. It wasn’t the Doctor but it felt right nonetheless.  
  
_Watch me run, Doctor._


	2. Light carries on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's not the Doctor but Jack is happy to follow her nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt “wanderlust”.

Physically, Clara was the same as Jack remembered last seeing her, when they had been sauntering around with the Doctor, his bowties and floppy hair; the one who had left Jack on Kephlinox. He had seen neither in such a long time that he had put them in a corner of his mind, only sparring a fond thought for them here and there but never forgotten.  
  
Not that the Captain had thought he would ever see Clara again.  
  
Here she was though, inviting him in what looked like her _own_ TARDIS, leading him by the hand through an American diner to a door that opened on a white and grey console room, in the same way the Doctor had done many times.  
  
“Ashildr,” Clara told a girl standing right in front of the console, or maybe a young woman, Jack couldn’t attribute her a proper age. He couldn’t remember her but her face was familiar.  
  
“It’s Me, not Ashildr, Clara,” she corrected, not raising her eyes from the book she was reading. “How many times will I have to remind you?”  
  
“Me, meet Captain Jack Harkness, the old friend I was talking to you about,” Clara said, completely ignoring the question. Me lifted her head at that, eyes falling on Jack. “Jack, meet Me. She’s,” Clara paused, looking at the other with an expression Jack hadn’t seen on her face before, the kind of expression that belonged to someone older, who had already seen too much and knew too much.  
  
Me nodded at Clara before she turned to Jack. “We’re travelling together.” Her voice was firm, strong. The kind that was used to deliver orders, even though its owner didn’t quite look like an adult. The moment their eyes met, hers as cold as the metal they shared their colour with, he knew she wasn’t who she seemed to be.  
  
Me too had had her life touched by the Doctor, Jack realised. Her familiarity with Clara and ease in this TARDIS, that definitely wasn’t the Doctor’s, belied that. He wondered how they had managed to get their hands on a TARDIS.  
  
He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped from his lips. “So, which Doctor was it?”  
  
“Mine.” Clara smiled but her fingers slipped between his, her grip slightly trembling. “I don’t think you’ve met him.” He gently squeezed her hand, hearing in her words the familiar sorrow of those who had lost their Doctor. “I hope you meet him one day.” Clara brought her free hand up on Jack’s cheek, the touch sweet and tender. “You’d good for him. You know how he gets when he’s on his own.”  
  
“Will you take me to him?”  
  
The moment the words were spoken, Jack knew that had been a mistake. Clara’s eyes glazed over and, even though they were facing each other, he could tell her mind was far, far away. When he fully took her into his arms, one hand cradling the back of her head, he noticed the light tremor of her body.  
  
He caught Me’s stare before she slowly shook her head. After what, she went back to her reading, seemingly disinterested in them.  
  
Clara’s arms went around his waist. She hugged him tightly before taking a step back., watching him intently. “Sorry, Jack, I can’t,” she eventually said.  
  
“Don’t be sorry.” He smiled at her. “We don’t need the Doctor to see the universe.”   
  
He walked to the console, looking at the unfamiliar layout. The TARDIS hummed when he put his hands on it. When the psychic tendrils reached out into his mind, he could tell this one was young, so very young compared to the Doctor’s TARDIS, thrumming with curiosity and eagerness. Somehow, it also felt a tiny bit less alien than the Doctor’s.  
  
“So, where should we go first? It’s your TARDIS, right? You decide.”  
  
“As long as it’s awesome.” Clara grinned, coming to the console looking every bit in control, as if she hadn’t faltered earlier. “I couldn’t care less.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I'd expend the one-shot because, well, it was a one-shot. 
> 
> I hope you liked it!
> 
> PS: It's not the last time you'll see these three because I love them and I've begun writing an os-collection branching from this fic featuring the three of them travelling together, which I should begin posting pretty soon.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're curious, Kephlinox is the planet Jack is staying on during [A Time To Die, A Time To Build](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1596716) (first instalment of the series)


End file.
